Just How Hard Is It to Get a Meeting with the Hess Foundation?
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP)
"The Hess Foundation is the only foundation Philamplify has studied to date that is completely inaccessible: it has no website, paid staff, phone number or email address. Hess has not responded in any way to our numerous outreach efforts. After months of radio silence, NCRP Executive Director Aaron Dorfman set out to get an in-person meeting with one of the foundation’s leaders.
The $800 million Hess Foundation was established by the late Leon Hess, founder of oil company Hess Corporation and former owner of the New York Jets football team. Today, the foundation is run by his three children: Hess Corporation CEO John Hess, Marlene Hess and former Pennsylvania legislator Constance Williams, along with two other trustees. The foundation has no defined goals, strategies or program areas, and the bulk of its grants go to large arts, education and health institutions in the tristate region of New York City, New Jersey and metro Philadelphia."